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After beating Roger Federer at the Rexall Centre to win the Rogers Cup, his on-court speech began with “Ah …” followed by a long pause, where he seemed incapable of doing anything but grin.

“I don’t know what to say,” he finished with. “It’s amazing to be here in front of you guys. Anyway, thank you for everything and this will stay in my mind forever.”

It’s not just that this is only his second ATP Masters 1000 title of his career, or that he’s the first Frenchman to win the Rogers Cup since its inception in 1881, though both those are pretty awesome.

It’s that he took down three of the big four in men’s tennis en route to winning this title.

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In the Sunday afternoon final, he dispatched one of the game’s all-time greats in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6 (3), after taking out top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray earlier in the tournament. He didn’t have a shot the other big four player, Rafael Nadal, who withdrew with a wrist injury.

The six-foot-two power-hitter led the tournament in aces — 77 in his five matches — but he was also aggressive on the forehand, backhand and moved well on the court, finishing off points.

The world’s 15th-ranked player (he’ll rise to 10th) only dropped a single set the entire tournament.

As Federer put it the day before, presciently as it would turn out, Tsonga is one of the guys that “you think you’re in a safe place sometimes in the rally, and he takes one step and, you know, just hits it and the point is over.”

And so it was on the scorching hot Centre Court before a soldout crowd.

While Tsonga is playing the best tennis he has played in years — he was once ranked as high as No. 5 — the final certainly wasn’t Federer’s best tennis of this tournament.

He struggled to find his rhythm, and each time it looked like momentum was going his way he lost it just as quickly.

The balls were moving faster on the sizzling afternoon court than in his previous matches, which were all at night, and Federer said that contributed to his lack of feel but added: “No excuses.”

“I just didn’t feel like I was playing good enough to win,” he said. “I just couldn’t create enough opportunities.”

Federer, a two-time Rogers Cup champion, was hoping to come out of the weekend with a third trophy and an 80th career title.

Still, Federer said, he was “overall pretty happy” that he made final in his first hardcourt tournament of the season.

“I go away from this feeling good about my chances next week and also at the US Open.”

Heading into the match, Federer had an 11-4 record over Tsonga but the Frenchman, dubbed the giant-slayer of the Rogers Cup, spent the entire tournament ignoring stats like that.

He ousted Djokovic in straight sets in the third-round ending an 11-match losing steak. In the quarter-finals, he lost his only set of the tournament but came out victorious against Andy Murray — something he hadn’t managed in their previous eight matchups.

The Rogers Cup crowd saw his breakthrough tournament but, “behind this, there is a lot of work,” Tsonga said.

He’s been waiting for this kind of success since coming back from an injury and moments of self-doubt — all part of being a professional tennis player.

“So you continue to believe in it,” he said. “Even if, you know, people around you say you’re not able to do it, you believe in it. And when you believe in something, it makes it sometimes possible.”

The Rogers Cup final also continued the trend of dominance by the game’s older players. Tsonga’ is 29 while Federer just turned 33.

It was a tough tournament for Canadians this year.

There were high expectations for Canada’s Milos Raonic, the 23-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., but he lost in the quarters.

“It could have been better, but it’s a tough tournament,” Karl Hale, the Toronto Rogers Cup tournament director said.

In the women’s tournament in Montreal, Eugenie Bouchard — a Wimbledon finalist — lost her first match.

“The two players are very young, Milos and Eugenie. I tell everybody the best is yet to come for the two of them at 23 and 20 years old. They have a bright future,” Hale said.

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